CLICK HERE FOR BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND MYSPACE LAYOUTS »

September 25, 2008

Phoenix Children's Museum

We went to the newly opened Children's Museum of Phoenix on Saturday the 13th of September. I drive by it almost 5 times a week and couldn't wait for it to open. So when I was trying to think up a fun way to celebrate Liam and Anja's birthday's, I decided that this would be a great place for the whole family!
___BEWARE___ There are a ton of pictures to follow

The Building is beautiful all by itself. It was originally the Monroe School. An elementary school built in 1913 and used until 1972 when the declining downtown population forced it to close. They renovated it and it is awesome! Although they are still not finished it was pretty neat. I hope my pictures do it justice... You really just have to see it in person!
You walk in and the first room has a three story ceiling. Eventually they plan on making this a climbing room but for now it has these colorful tunnels. Anja was being nice and bringing a ball over to Liam.
For some reason Liam wasn't overly thrilled with the museum. He was bit overwhelmed I think.
Here's my mom and my awesome friend Lisa. The wall has all these CD's hanging from it. It was pretty.
They had these contraptions around. The kids had fun walking on the tires to make them go.
Here are the race tracks. They had several that you could race these wooden cars down. Anja is pulling the wrench lever to see them go.
And off they go...
You could walk up this ramp that took you up to the ceiling for another track.
Anja's head almost scrapes the ceiling as she races her car...
And there it goes...pretty cool huh... I bet you know a few boys who would like to play with this!
That's one hot biker Mama!
And an even hotter husband!
Just banging on stuff
Lisa's gorgeous little girl Kassidy cooking for us ...spaghetti I think
Pretending that she is reading with Mom...when really she was forced to fake a picture op!
They had a cute reading corner...
This is on the third story...reading area looking at the open area from the first level... remember those CD's I mentioned hanging on the wall? Well this is where they start!Here the kids scoop us up some pretend ice cream... rubber balls and craft foam rolled up in a cone... so cute!
Looks good enough to eat!
Here is Triston's Peter Pan moment... in a place like this it is easy to understand the desire to never grow up! Don't worry the bean bags made a nice soft landing spot!
NOW WE ENTER THE GRAND BALLROOM... not for dancing.. oh no.... FOR BALLS!!!
There were tubes everywhere and the balls would go past keys hanging or bells and so this room was not only full of balls it was full of noise too...
You could climb up to the tree house looking thing and let the balls go! This was Liam's favorite room!

Anja made Daddy a pizza!Nika shops in the grocery store...
"Look Mom they have the same cereal as us!"
Can I get in... nope sorry just a painting on the wall... looks real though huh!
Anja helps Liam shop. Again it all looks incredibly real!
What is that you might wonder....
Oh just some of the cool decor!
They had a craft room with different tables doing different things... all included in your admission... I love that they both have their tongue's sticking out in determination.
Busy little Liam...
Nika painting the never finished house of paint...
More painting on top of the other million layers of paint
Moving on to the Trike run.... Here is cute Kassidy again
Anja trying the helmet on for size
Triston giving the girls a ride...
We were able to bring our own food in for lunch. They have an inside and outside eating area. I think it is nice that they don't force you to purchase their stuff... I made these baseball cupcakes for the boys...
And Butterfly's for the girl's
On the way out we had to pass through the tunnel room again... Liam was better this time... He really liked this cone!
The perfect arm size hole too!
Until it wouldn't let go of his arm....
But he escaped and even conquered the scary colored tunnels...

So it was a happy ending and I didn't even mind the fruit loop food fight in the van on the way home... Anja even mentioned a desire to live there...
If you haven't been I totally give this place two thumbs up!

September 23, 2008

Never will we forget....

September 11th....They have done this healing field in Tempe AZ for five years now, but this is the first year I have been to see it. I had heard about it on the radio and I felt this overwhelming need to go there. So I picked up the kids from school and headed out there. There is a flag for every person who died in the attacks. It was an amazing thing to see in person and I am glad that we went. The pictures only do it so much justice.
There was a yellow ribbon and a card on each flag with a picture of the person and there name and where they were when the attacks happened.
It was a bit eerie to see these planes flying overhead. The airport is somewhat close by and they were coming down for a landing. The sounds of the airplanes while walking through the park gave you the chills.

This is Tempe Town Lake... and no they were not about to fall off as the picture suggests....
Here is a video link to a video of the field. Kinda makes you feel like you are walking through it with us..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaIQbmacg6E
We had walked around for a while when off to the west we saw a reason to leave...


We have lived in AZ long enough now to learn to run to the car before the brown cloud gets us!
That is your typical monsoon dust storm...

September 17, 2008

Liam is a 2 year old!

So Liam celebrated his birthday this past Wednesday. I hadn't planned on celebrating much because Ben was out of town for work and I figured we would do a combined birthday celebration for Anja and Liam when he got back.
Growing up my Mom was very good about celebrating our birthdays and making us feel special and so even though I thought he would be too young to think much of it my mom decided that he needed some presents and cake on his actual birthday! Go Mom! Thanks for making his day! Not to mention his siblings night! Nothing better then ice cream cake!

He got an Elmo doll and has brought it everywhere since... he calls it Melmo.... and Melmo must go to bed with him, ride in the car, play...you get the idea...
Trucks are always a good bet too!
The yummy cake!
and the aftermath...Liam was being very cute with the presents, he opened them himself but every time he ripped the paper he would hand it to one of us. He seemed concerned about where the paper should go... maybe he will be a good room cleaner when he gets older..
.